Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Works of Beaumont and Fletcher, Vol. 9 of 14: With an Introduction and Explanatory Notes; Containing, the Coxcomb; The Captain; Women Pleased; The Fair Maid of the Inn
Neither Sympson nor the editors of 1778 are right. The actors did not curtail, or, to nee the technical term', cut down, the comedy'with the authors' consent, the revival, fbr which the above prologue was compo sed having evidently taken place after the demise of the authors. Symp son 3 accusation against the booksellers, impeaching the veracity of their professions in the preface, is by no means made out. The'prologue was addressed to the audience at the revival of the play, when it was cut down for representation, not to the readehof the folio, printed in 1647 and there is, no reason to doubt that this passages rejected in the action were restored when it was printed. It inust be observed; however, that the metre is unusually irregular inthis play; and thenumber of beans-1 tichs far greater than in the generalityiof our poets' mantras. V'i'he mo dern editors have too often, in arranging the'verses, 001t? Them upon' their fi bot the ear is a much better jud e of old dramatic versifi cation, Er which reason I heave preferred regn ating ihe lines withbut at tention to the number ofitheir component syllables, where it was i sible to bring out regular-g. In Sympson's edition it is impossible to read those scenes which a printed as prose in the old folios with any satisfaction. The text of the last edition is far better; but the lines, contrary to the universal practice of our poets, an end, in too many ia stances, with of; and, the, and other insignificant particles.
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